Discover Statesville
Welcome to "Discover Statesville," the show that takes you on a captivating journey through the heart of one of North Carolina's most charming towns. Co-hosted by community advocates, Richard Griggs and Cindy Sutton, this weekly show brings you the pulse of Statesville, recording live at various spots throughout Statesville in partnership with Sow Media studios.
Join Richard and Cindy as they uncover the hidden gems and local treasures that make Statesville truly special. From the top-notch attractions and exciting events to the remarkable individuals who shape the community, "Discover Statesville" promises to leave no stone unturned.
Hungry for a culinary adventure? Tune in for their delightful restaurant reviews, where they'll guide you to the best places to eat in town. Whether you're a resident or a visitor, this podcast is your ultimate guide to all the things that make Statesville great.
You're invited to come along on this immersive journey, as "Discover Statesville" brings you closer to the heart of our vibrant town. Be prepared to be entertained, inspired, and enlightened each week, as Richard and Cindy share their passion for all things Statesville!
Discover Statesville
Pints and Purpose: The Community Brew of Red Buffalo Brewing Co. in Statesville
We never expected a stroll through downtown Statesville would unveil a discovery as refreshing as a cold pint on a warm day, but that's precisely what happened upon meeting Joe Bondi, the mastermind behind Red Buffalo Brewing Company. His journey from purchasing a simple structure to creating a central community heartbeat unfolds in our latest podcast episode. This episode takes you on a six-year voyage with Red Buffalo, showcasing how Joe's love for craft beer intertwines with his commitment to fostering connections and energizing the community's spirit. It's a narrative that captures the essence of Statesville, enriched by the tunes of local musicians and the presence of food trucks that transform the brewery into a bustling gathering spot.
As we converse with Joe, we delve into the layers of his dedication to Statesville, revealing a story that extends far beyond beer. His hands-on approach to community service and the way this ethos is infused in every pint at Red Buffalo come to life through our discussion. From creatively named beers to a unique fire truck serving as a mobile tap station, the vibrancy of Statesville and its brewery scene becomes palpable.
Adding to the excitement, Red Buffalo Brewing will be celebrating NC Pint Day on April 7, 2024, with a special commemorative pint created in partnership with the NC Brewers Guild. This event not only highlights the brewery's innovative spirit but also its role in promoting North Carolina's rich brewing culture.
So, whether you're indulging in a Mouthy Blonde or enjoying the depth of Val's Chocolate Stout, join us for a chat that explores the craft of community-building as much as it does beer crafting. Here's to the stories and brews of Red Buffalo Brewing Co.—where every sip is a testament to the art of bringing people together. Cheers!
If you've been following along on Instagram, participated in our recent giveaway and you're tuning in to see who our winner is, you are at the right place. Tune in now.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes you on a captivating journey through the heart of one of North Carolina's most charming towns.
Speaker 1:And the winner is just kidding. We're going to make you watch the show before you know who the winner is today.
Speaker 3:What a twist. Yeah, you watch the show before you know who the winner is today. What a twist. Welcome back to Discover Statesville. Today, we are joined with Joe Bondi, founder owner of Red Buffalo Brewing Company, located right here in downtown Statesville. Thanks for having me. Welcome, joe. Thanks for being here. How are you today?
Speaker 4:Doing wonderful.
Speaker 3:Excellent.
Speaker 4:How could I not be more wonderful than this? Glad to have you in the house.
Speaker 3:So, joe, tell us about how you made the decision to start a brewery here in downtown Statesville.
Speaker 4:Wow. It first came with falling in love with Statesville, especially downtown. I just gravitated to the community so quickly, had no plans on actually living here, staying here, opening a business, but the more I was here and longer I was here meeting people, this felt like home. So that's where it started. And then from there the building became available and at first I thought I was going to be a landlord. And then the building became more available and then I decided I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I grew up, so I opened a brewery. Perfect, we're glad you did.
Speaker 1:Thank you. How many years in are we now?
Speaker 4:We are November. Last November was five years, so we're working on six. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, crazy. I've only aged 20, but it's been five. I've only aged 20, but it's been five.
Speaker 1:Well, we are certainly excited to have a brewery like Red Buffalo as a staple destination business here and love all the new and exciting things that we're watching. You do Tell us a little bit. I mean outside your brewery right, so you make beer. But tell us a little bit. You do so much community stuff. You've got live music. You've got food trucks. Tell us a little bit behind the scenes of much community stuff. You've got live music. You've got food trucks. Tell us a little bit behind the scenes of what you do day in and day out at Red Buffalo.
Speaker 4:Well, it starts first of all, the heart. The heart of Red Buffalo is where we make the beer. So we got the guys in the back making the beer. That's really where people don't see, but that's where it starts. And then, of course, that migrates out to the front taproom area and that's where the fun is and that's where the community comes together. A lot of fun. The whole concept of Red Buffalo, wherever it may be and it just turned out to be downtown Statesville is about community and the embracement of meeting people that you didn't know and you come in as a stranger and you leave as a friend the kind of tagline we use. We do special events all the time. We try to do benefit nights not just to benefit the actual benefactor or charity, but to also educate our customers or the community on what they actually do Because there's so many great charities out there.
Speaker 4:So it's been a really nice Mike over the years doing them a couple times a year or two. We have two coming up in April, so that's been a wonderful, wonderful thing that we've been able to do.
Speaker 1:Actually, Richard's been a guest bartender for an event. Richard has been a guest bartender I was. Not too long ago. There was one for Special thing that we've been able to do. Actually, Richard's been a guest bartender for an event. Richard has been a guest bartender Not too long ago there was one for Special Olympics in Sourdough County.
Speaker 3:We had a great turnout. It was a busy night and raised a lot of money.
Speaker 1:It was wonderful they came to see your hair.
Speaker 4:It was shorter. It was shorter.
Speaker 3:But yeah, great, all those have been well attended. You've done one for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I believe there's one coming up for the Partnership for Young Children.
Speaker 4:Rescue Ranch. Rescue Ranch as well, is also in April.
Speaker 3:That's always a fun one, because there's animals there.
Speaker 4:Lake Norman Humane is coming up, okay, great, and there's a bunch. Every month we try to do at least one, and so that's something we really, really love you mentioned the tap room.
Speaker 3:You know, when Red Buffalo first opened, you know it was kind of getting the tap room open. Did you have a full? So there's a lot of aspects to Red Buffalo, to the space Right. Was that always the vision or has that kind of grown over time? You know, let's get the tap room open. Then you thought, oh gosh, this would be a great performance space and then you've got Outback and everything.
Speaker 4:The original vision was to open just the taproom area, not the venue, and then we, at the last minute, changed gears a little bit, added that extra room which turned out to be and when you're in the planning process of anything like this, you don't know if it's going to work, and even when we opened I wasn't sure if it was going to work. So we opened up this venue as well as the tap room for live music, special events, and the reaction that we got from the community was awesome. So it turned out to be this cool music room that I love live music and what it does for the community bringing more people downtown. But this particular venue there's not too many areas that you go to that somewhat have a dedicated room just for that and it's good for special events. It's great for music Going to the back area.
Speaker 4:First year or two we didn't do much back there and then we planted some flowers and cleaned it up back there a little bit and that's where the food trucks go, and that's a unique experience back there for the people who want a little bit quieter. People like the front area being on the street having a beer with a friend, and then there's the back area where you could just kind of a little bit less people.
Speaker 4:Yeah it's a cool spot. Yeah, it's neat. A lot of diversity.
Speaker 1:You have a really cool mural back there too, right? Yes, how did that come to fruition?
Speaker 4:The art club of Mitchell Community College did this great mural that is about 10 feet high and about 40 feet wide. They did a great job on it. Rogelio from. I reached out to him and said do you think that our club might be interested in doing this? So, the long story short, several of the volunteering from the art club did it and it's a Absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it turned out great.
Speaker 1:It looks great, love it. Yeah, it celebrates who we are as a state. Well, there's a lot.
Speaker 4:There's balloons because we're the capital of the southeast about the balloon rally and all that. We have Fort Dobbs painted on there, we have City Hall, we have all these little cool things showing clock tower building. There's all these neat things. So it's a great depiction of Statesville and I'm really happy and grateful that the club from Mitchell Community College did that. Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So many partnerships. So whether you're a local or you're a visitor coming through Statesville, you've got to make sure to get back in the alley of Red Buffalo and check that out.
Speaker 4:It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So one of the things that had us talking about you coming on joining us today was there's a big day coming up for beer, right?
Speaker 4:Yeah, this coming.
Speaker 1:Sunday yeah, north Carolina Pint Day, yeah, so if I can take a yeah.
Speaker 3:I'd like to Thank you, Cindy.
Speaker 4:Thanks for the answer, though. Thanks for the answer now. So this Sunday, April 7th, instead of opening at noon, we're going to actually open at 10 o'clock. We're going to have a great food truck, breakfast food truck called Paige's Plate, and we are going to celebrate NC Point Day. Now, what is NC Point Day? It's the first time they've ever done it and they try to get all these breweries involved. We've got about 60 breweries signed up across the state. I don't know if you see it very well, but this is the inaugural design, which is designed by a North Carolina artist. Her name is Christian Lucas and really happy to be serving that. It will be on April 7th and we're going to do some special things with this pint glass.
Speaker 1:You can see it a lot better Watch us on social media and you'll find out more. You can see it a lot better if you put some beer in it. And so Joe said he brought this beer just for me and it's called Angry Brunette. I don't know what he's trying to tell me, folks, but I'm sure it's a good beer. But we're going to pour this beer. I think you can see the glass a little bit better.
Speaker 4:I saw the North.
Speaker 1:Carolina Brewers Guild. When they took pictures, did it with beer.
Speaker 4:I thought she was only going to fill it halfway.
Speaker 1:So, Joe, what is the end game for?
Speaker 3:NC Pint Day. I mean just to raise awareness and celebrate.
Speaker 4:It's to celebrate the state and again the artist depicted so many the state bird, the state flower. There's so much on this glass if you really look at it. But again, this will be an annual event. A dollar of each pint that we sell will go back to the Brewers Guild and again they are an association that is 100% brewers. Whatever, they're the ones that support us. They're the ones that lobby for us with the state capitol and everything. They're the ones that kept us open during COVID. I mean they do a lot of cool things behind the scenes. They're advocates for the brewing business in North Carolina. So as a member of that guild, you know we as brewers should do as much as we can to promote them.
Speaker 4:Okay, even though there's so many people that don't know that they even exist, so that's what this is about.
Speaker 3:Now is there a limited number of glasses available. I mean, do you need to come early?
Speaker 4:You should come early.
Speaker 3:Come early and stay, stay all day.
Speaker 4:We're going to have some specials and that one day we're going to be doing a really cool special that you're going to be able to take this home. But details will come on that. But, yes, this will be an annual thing. We're really excited about it and we're going to be open extra hours on Sunday, april 7th for North Carolina's Pint Day. All right, that's really exciting.
Speaker 1:Well, and since Joe mentioned it, and since it's 2024, you can see right here. You can see the glass so much better when it's got a yummy beer in it, but it says 2024 North Carolina beer. So since it's 2024, we have partnered with Joe to give away 24 pints from the Statesville Convention and Visitors from Discover Statesville that will be filled with a beverage of choice.
Speaker 3:How does somebody win one of those?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's out on Instagram right now. So go out to the Discover Statesville Instagram page and you're going to have to follow Red Buffalo Brewing on Instagram and follow Discover Statesville. We ask you to do a few other things to invite your friends, and it's out there now. So hopefully you've seen it already and you're already participating. But we will announce the winners. We won't be able to do it on the show because it's happening this weekend, so we will contact the winners on Friday. We'll close it out at the end of today, at the end of tonight, after this show airs, and we'll announce the winners on Friday, and then you'll make plans to go to Red Buffalo and claim your pint. So we are so excited that you've tapped into what the state's doing for NC Pint Day and wanted to be a part of that.
Speaker 3:You're going to have to show me which posts I got to like and stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you're going to enter this contest, you can do it right now. Guys, if you haven't figured it out from watching since August, Richard is a beer guy.
Speaker 4:Only on the weekends.
Speaker 1:Only on the weekends. Well, well.
Speaker 3:So, Joe, you talked a lot about the performance space and stuff. You've had, obviously, concerts in there. You've had some comedy nights here recently, which is pretty cool. Years ago I don't know if you know this Red Buffalo was one of the venues for the Full Bloom Film Festival.
Speaker 1:Joe, let us screen films in there. I do know that, yeah.
Speaker 3:Anything else exciting coming up in that regard?
Speaker 4:Boy. We continue to embrace the live music. I'm still waiting for someone to approach me to say we want to do a play, we want to do a performance at Red Buffalo, so putting that out there. So there's always something going on and we do events, certainly at Red Buffalo. We participate in events outside of Red Buffalo, at festivals and the downtown concert series and things like that Balloon Fest. So there's so many things that we do and again, it's really about for me anyways, it's about bringing people not just to Red Buffalo, bring people downtown and experience everything that there is. And every day, every year, it just seems for me, anyways, to get better and better. So I'm excited about that. For people that don't get downtown very often, Come on down, have a good time. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So, joe, I didn't tell you we were going to do this, and I know you don't like talking about yourself.
Speaker 3:I guarantee you didn't tell me.
Speaker 1:You do know this because we do it on every episode. Oh sure, so we very much like to get to know the human behind you know what we're talking about. We're talking about Red Buffalo, we're talking about North Carolina Pint Day, but you, Joe Bondi, is very involved in the community, so I want to talk about that and what that means to you. I mean, you're on the Board of Directors for Downtown Statesville Development. You chaired the board for the Statesville Convention and Visitors Bureau for quite some time, through some difficult times like really helped grow it, get it where it is today. So that part of you and I know you talked about the community events. But let's talk about Joe Bondi, the human, and your volunteerism and your time on the boards and stuff. I mean, like what, why are you doing that? What drives you to do that?
Speaker 4:I love the community. I mean, I guess, being involved and engaged, I guess is my way of giving back, if that's kind of a cliche type of thing. But a lot of people give in different ways. My way is, the way I engage is give suggestions to a person, an entity, a community influencer, to say this is how I see it, this is how I think it could get better, this is how I think outsiders look at our situation. A lot of people have hobbies. My hobby is to try to make our community better. That's a good one to have.
Speaker 1:Well, we appreciate that, richard. We talk a lot about it's the people. Anytime you ask somebody what do you love about Statesville, it's always the people and it's a genuine answer, and we definitely see you as one of those people that make up the patchwork of Statesville.
Speaker 4:Just to share real quick. There's people that come to Red Buffalo. I'm sure you know other places downtown and outside of downtown, but it's really cool to hear people that are, say, regular customers now at Red Buffalo. They aren't from here, they moved here in the last couple of years. And I ask them I go, what made you decide to look here, to stay and invest in the community? And you hear things like everyone was so friendly. One couple even said Red Buffalo was part of the reason. So that was totally cool. You know some people who left and came back because of Red.
Speaker 1:Buffalo right? No, and when you?
Speaker 4:hear people from the outside of our community come here for like the first time and because of where we are on the map, there's a lot of people that go from west to east, north to south that are coming through and they're just staying for a short time Whether it's by accident or coincidence and then they go. You know this is the first time we've stayed in Statesville. We make this run once a year. We're going to come back here now. We used to go to Charlotte and it's a really good feeling to have people. You want to be positive and embrace your own community, but when you hear outsiders say this is really cool, it makes you feel good.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely so yeah, those are cool things.
Speaker 1:So how about some fun facts? What's the number one selling brew at Red Buffalo Brewing? My favorite is Val's Chocolate.
Speaker 4:Stout, val's Chocolate Stout. You know that Val's Chocolate Stout's a good one, but I'll go with the Angry Burnet. The number one seller right now well, year to date would be and I think it might be because of the name, but it's our Mouthy Blonde. The Bluesberry Ale sells really good this current month. That's the one that's the number one. But we have some funny names for our beers. It's part of the fun in not just making and creating a flavor in the beer, but the beer naming Some names we come up with we can't really put up on the board but it's still a lot of fun.
Speaker 4:But yeah, there's our Firehouse Red Ale that we named after the fire department here. That's a really popular one. And the Center Street Ale that I won't say that Richard likes to drink is a very popular one as well.
Speaker 2:Not before 5-Eleven and the.
Speaker 4:Jalapeno, ale we're not confirmed or denied.
Speaker 3:Whole Tub. Jalapeno is a popular one, but anyways, yeah, all of them, all of them. So you mentioned the Firehouse, ale Talk a little bit about the. A lot of people probably have seen your little fire truck. Yeah, but talk a little bit about that fire truck and how that sort of came to fruition.
Speaker 4:So I spent several years living in Japan and years back this is well before Red Buffalo was even a thought I saw a food truck. It was a converted fire truck. I thought, wow, that's really cool. And then when I opened Red Buffalo, it hit me a year or two later like it'd be really cool to make a tap truck out of a fire truck and I thought, well, fire trucks are a little bit too big. And then I got thinking about my past and like, oh my gosh. So I started looking for small fire trucks and there it was Believe it or not in Nashville Tennessee.
Speaker 4:So I went to Nashville Tennessee and I bought this thing and they shipped it Believe it or not in Nashville Tennessee. So I went to Nashville Tennessee and I bought this thing and they shipped it. So it's a 1992 Daihatsu Hi-Jet and we converted the back area which would have been where the pump was the water pump. So we converted that into a kegerator. We have four taps back there and we bring it to festivals and whether I'm driving around town or we're at a festival, it's a head-turner and whether you're 8 or 80, people want to. Hey, can I take a picture with you? Yeah, sure I'll be at the Walmart parking lot. People go. Can I take a picture? I'm like, yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you take it to events.
Speaker 4:Yeah, driving around town is really funny because it's a head turner. People just think it's really funny and then of course you're driving on the other side. I'm shifting with my left hand.
Speaker 3:Can you take that thing on the?
Speaker 4:interstate. I think we could, but I won't.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I get it. It's a little too small, just in case.
Speaker 4:I don't think there's any airbags or anything like that.
Speaker 1:So, Jeff, we have someone tuning in that wants to learn more about Red Buffalo. Where can they find you? Tell us your website, your address.
Speaker 4:Our website is redbuffalobrewingcom. You can, of course, if you search Red Buffalo on Instagram or Facebook, you will find us. We're all over Google, so I think. Or you can call us 704-380-2219. But the best way to experience Red Buffalo is to show up and meet people that you haven't met before and hopefully also enjoy a beer.
Speaker 1:Lots of great people, yeah.
Speaker 4:And that's community In the herd. I can't take any credit for that.
Speaker 3:That's. The community Provided a space. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we're going to let you help us do a little giving today All right. Weekend before last downtown Statesville was all abuzz with Art Crawl and we were there and I came across Watercroft Crockery at the Vault Provisions and I own two of these mugs. I drink out of these Statesville mugs every morning. I love them. I think they're great.
Speaker 4:They're awesome yeah.
Speaker 1:And I thought well, how cool would it be if we did a little giveaway and got some engagement on our Instagram. So it's a Statesville mug from Water, crock Crockery, and it is the Grateful Tea Company Earl Grey Vanilla Cream in Lavender. I can't believe I haven't already consumed this. I love Earl Grey in Lavender Gift that we are going to give away to one lucky person who participated in our Instagram giveaway. And Joe, we did a drawing yesterday and if you could tell us who that winner?
Speaker 4:is that? Looks like Elizabeth.
Speaker 1:Selves. Yes, and it says on here, Richard, she is an NC State graduate. Well, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Congratulations, congratulations. Clearly, that wasn't why A lifetime of smart decisions that led you to this moment. It was a random drawing, but it looks like.
Speaker 1:Elizabeth, one of your friends tagged you and then you followed along and you won our random drawing. So this is going to be available for you to pick up from the vault during opening hours. So just stop in the vault and tell them that you won the Discover State's Full Mug and Tea giveaway. So congratulations. We hope you enjoyed participating in this week's giveaway. We won't announce on the show because we did it in conjunction with pint day and it kind of happened fast, but we're excited to be giving away 24 pint glasses with a beverage in them.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, this looks better than that, so come on by April 7th. This is opportunity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is opportunity.
Speaker 1:Opportunity, but guys cheers to.
Speaker 2:Red.
Speaker 1:Buffalo. Cheers to NC Pint Day and cheers to Statesville. We invite you to Discover Statesville. We'll see you again next week. Thanks everyone.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining Discover Statesville. You can email us at discoveratstatesvillenccom. Check us. Can email us at discover at statesvillenccom. Check us out on Facebook at Discover Statesville, nc hashtag Discover Statesville and our website, statesvillenccom. Catch us next week as we continue on our journey to uncover the hidden gems, culinary adventures, entertainment, and to be inspired and enlightened as we Discover Statesville.
